VANDERBIJLPARK.- Cases of assault, damage to property and vandalism were opened at the Vanderbijlpark police station after the owner of One Big Entertaiment, Khulu Malindi was brutally attacked and assaulted by angry festival patrons following an announcement over the postponement of the Jazz by the River Festival that was supposed to have taken place at the venue over two days, Saturday and Sunday.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, Malindi said that the announcement of the postponement of the festival, that angred the crowd of over two thousand (2000) people was due to poor sound. The patrons didn’t only assault Malindi but also smashed his car, the video of this incident is circulating on social media platforms. Malindi told Sedibeng Ster that his company takes total responsibility over the poor sound system that caused the scene,
“We totally take the blame for what happened. There were some of our sponsors who did not make payments in time and therefore we did not have our normal sound company on the day and decided to go with these guys who provided poor quality sound. This caused us to announce the postponement of the events, leading to the anger of the crowd, We profusely apologise,” Malindi told Sedibeng Ster.
Some of the patrons were said to be angry because they had travelled from as far as Johannesburg and had bookings at the Emerald Casino Hotel. An event management team is said to have tried to clam the festival goers, to no avail. The artists who were billed to perform at the events were Judith Sephuma, Selaelo Selota, Siphokazi, Brenda Mtambo, gospel singer singer Teboho Moloi, Nomfundo Moh, Mdu Masilela, Thebe, Tromphies, Bucy Radebe, including local artists. Malindi said that a festival will be held at a date to be announced later where the holders of the tickets, that were bought at Computicket, will be able to get in and those that had lost or used them to get into the venue over the weekend will be verified through their identity documents.
“We will be hosting this festival purely for them to say we are sorry. We take full responsibility for what happaned. Again, we apologise profusely about the shows that had to be postoned due to unforseen circumstances,” Malindi said.
* Sedibeng Ster newspaper had advertised, and even ran a competition on the events. We can, therefore, assure our readers that these advertisements were fully paid for, and that there was nothing untoward from our side.(Editor)
